Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Thursday - June 17, 2010

From: Radcliff, KY
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Identification of plant from wildflower mix in Radcliff KY
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I bought a wildflower mixture from local store; after planting, there is a 2 ft bush or plant with flowers that are yellow, and small like those on a cantaloupe, leaves that look like a watermelon, but the plant has spines along the underside of the leaf and on flower buds and flower backs. I threw the packet away so I was wondering what kind of plant I am growing? Thanks!

ANSWER:

We never recommend purchasing mixes of seeds for this very reason; you have no idea what is going to come up. Something in that mix could be non-native or invasive, or both, and you would have introduced that plant to your area. Unfortunately, since you do not know if the plant is native, we can't hope to identify it without some more information. Please go to our Mr. Smarty Plants Plant Identification page for instructions on sending us pictures with descriptions. We can't guarantee that we will be able to identify it even then, but we will try.

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Thursday - June 17, 2010

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